i82 How to Pay for the War 



organism struggling to find expression whilst wrestling 

 against the fiend of Bolshevism " — that is, against Mob 

 Rule. The typical Russian, the reviewer justly claims, is 

 not a Bolshevist, but the follower of and a believer in such 

 great Russian leaders as Rodzianko, and he then goes on 

 to tell us that of the disastrous influence of the pro-German 

 element at Petrograd there is a vast accumulation of 

 proofs. Take one of them. At the end of igi6 the British 

 Ambassador (Sir George Buchanan) warned the Tsar that 

 the food crisis (which overturned the throne three months 

 later) was even then imperilling his future. The whole 

 business of supply must be entrusted to the Zemstvos or 

 County Councils. The Tsar thanked our Ambassador and 

 consulted his wife. She, in her turn, consulted Rasputin, 

 who did not approve. Nor did the German mentality of 

 the Tsarina approve. Such a delegation of powers to the 

 Zemstvos would undermine the stability of the throne. 

 The weak Tsar assented. He dreaded his wife's anger. 

 His attitude towards her, his submission to her leading 

 strings, were summed up in one short reply made to an 

 old general who had expostulated with him on the subject 

 of Rasputin's influence: " I prefer five Rasputins to one 

 hysterical woman." 



Now all these mediaeval clogs on the prosperity of the 

 country have vanished. Bolshevism will follow them ; 

 and the real Russia will reassert herself. 



" From an economic point of view," Wilton tells us, 

 " Bolshevism is an impossibility. It offers no practicable 

 method of feeding and clothing the people. All who could 

 leave the cities have fled home to their villages. They 

 will soon tire of village life. And how are they to return 

 to their lathes or looms if industries remain the sport of 

 socialistic experiments ? These industries will outlive 

 Bolshevism, and attain a much greater extension than 

 before. . . ." 



Knowing this and much more, is why I pointed out in 

 Tropical Life last January, that we must continue to have 

 faith in and not despond over Russia; she is very sound 

 at the core, and we all know that, unlike the boy's apple, 

 it is all core. Petrograd at the moment is only like a 

 cankerous growth on the surface, which will be cured in 

 time. Mr. Preev, who is probably the best known and 

 most reliable " moderate " writer on Russia in London, 

 confirms this belief, for he claims that our present dis- 

 appointment has produced a feeling of hopelessness quite 

 unjustified by the real facts of the Russian position, and 



